Seahawks’ win over Colts was ugly, which is why it was great

The Seattle Seahawks have had some great performances this season.

They’ve blown out the New Orleans Saints, Washington Commanders, Arizona Cardinals, Minnesota Vikings and Atlanta Falcons.

They also have victories over the Jacksonville Jaguars (10-4), who lead the AFC South, the Houston Texas (9-5), who are second in that same division, and the Pittsburgh Steelers (7-6), who lead the AFC North.

Where the 11-3 Seahawks stand in NFC playoff picture

So there understandably wasn’t much raving about Sunday’s 18-16 win where the Seahawks didn’t score a single touchdown and barely beat an Indianapolis team that had turned to 44-year-old quarterback Philip Rivers, who had come out of five-year retirement to help the Colts save their season.

But the way the Seahawks won is important, said Seattle Sports’ Mike Salk. And Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald seems to feel the same way.

“Great football teams find a way to win games,” Macdonald said to his team in the locker room after Sunday’s win. “There’s all shapes and sizes in the NFL. You guys are a great football team, OK? Freaking all three phases, roster one through 70, all coaches did a great job of adjusting throughout the game, all three phases. Awesome job.

“The resiliency, men, the relentlessness, all the way to the last second, that’s some high-powered stuff. That’s what great teams do, alright? And look, we’re going to have games like that coming down the stretch, OK? … All we got to do is just go to the next play and figure out a way to win. And that’s what we did.”

Salk echoed that sentiment on Monday’s Brock and Salk about the benefit of picking up an “ugly” win with just three weeks left in the season.

“That was not the world’s prettiest win,” Salk said. “I’ve said that about 100 times today, and I’m probably not going to stop saying it because look, we all have eyes, we know what we watched. But sometimes that’s the type of win that you’ve got to have in the NFL. And I’m going to continue to try to make the argument – I may not convince everybody – but I think that was actually a better and more important win than the standard ‘pretty’ variety that they’d had quite often so far this year.”

Perhaps most important is that quarterback Sam Darnold led the Seahawks on a game-winning field goal drive inside the final minute as Seattle improved its record to 11-3.

“I wanted to see Sam Darnold do it in the clutch. Call me crazy, but he was 1-3 so far this year with opportunities to win the game late,” Salk continued. “The three losses they had, he had the ball in his hands in the final minute of all three of those games, and we saw turnovers. A couple of fumbles, an interception – he just wasn’t able to drive the team down the field in those big moments other than against Arizona in the first win against the Cardinals.

“So to double the number of late-game wins that Sam Darnold has had this year was important. Seeing him in charge in that moment, no panic, nothing to worry about, take his team right down the field, get them to exactly the spot on the field they needed to get to – yeah, I thought that was actually more meaningful than blowing out the Colts and getting themselves ready for L.A. (on Thursday).”

The Seahawks are tied for first place with those Los Angeles Rams in both the NFC West and NFC as a whole going into Thursday’s primetime matchup against their division rival, and Salk believes Sunday’s victory will go a long way in helping Seattle make a run at its ultimate goal.

“They’re a Super Bowl contender – the limit on this team is winning the Super Bowl, there is no other ceiling that should be placed on this team this year. In order to do it, you’ve got to win some games like yesterday.”

Hear the full conversation between Mike Salk and guest host Brady Henderson, who covers the Seahawks for ESPN, in the podcast at this link or in the player below. Catch Brock and Salk live from 6-10 a.m. weekdays on Seattle Sports.

More on the Seattle Seahawks

• Has a problem emerged for the Seahawks’ offense?
• Injury may keep Rams WR Davante Adams out of showdown vs. Hawks
• Stacy Rost: Where Seahawks’ offense is trending in wrong direction
• Observations from Seahawks’ narrow win over Colts
• How these Seattle Seahawks compare to their Super Bowl teams

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